Julia MacDonald (Rogers) Hatch

August 29, 2014 6:02 pm

HOWLAND – Julia MacDonald (Rogers) Hatch, 96 passed on August 28, 2014 at Cummings Healthcare Facility in Howland, Maine. She was born in Machias, Maine, on July 7, 1918, the only child of Henry Miller Rogers and Blanche Wallace Rogers.
She graduated from Machias Memorial High School in 1935, and then, grudgingly, attended Washington State Normal School, also in Machias, and in 1937, received her teacher’s certificate. At age 19, she came to West Enfield and began her teaching career in the West Enfield school system and it was there she met her husband, Dennis W. Hatch, Sr. Teaching was interrupted by WWII as she traveled with her enlisted husband to Macon, GA, where their first child, Jack Dennis Hatch, was born. Peacetime found the family living in Passadumkeag with the addition of her daughter, Jane Rogers Hatch and son, Dennis Winslow Hatch, Jr. to the family. After WWII, she resumed teaching in West Enfield and later made the move to the Ring Street School in Howland where she was a much-loved kindergarten teacher to countless area youth, many of whom still remember her as Mrs. Hatch. A life-long learner, she graduated in the ’50s from the University of Maine with a degree in education. She retired in 1973 and with her husband became “snowbirds” living in Zephyrhills, FL, winters and Cold Stream Pond summers. Her gracious home in FL was always open for winter visitors and was the gathering place for friends and family holidays and celebrations. Her husband predeceased her in 1987 and she became a full-time resident of FL coming home several times a year for holidays and special occasions. She traveled extensively attending several Elder Hostel Learning Opportunities throughout the US with additional trips to Australia and Hawaii. Several years of ill health necessitated the move to Maine in 2009 when she became a resident of Cummings Healthcare.
Julia is survived by her loving family including daughter, Jane and her husband, Donald Briggs of Newport and son, Dennis and his wife, Christine of Passadumkeag. She was Nana to Julia (Briggs) Vandergrift and her husband, Sam; Cynthia (Briggs) Kugell and her husband, Kevin; Robert Briggs and his wife, Diane; Reginald Briggs and his wife, Correen; Sara (Hatch) Wotton and her husband, Bill; and Tom Hatch. She was GG to Josh Vandergrift, Forrest, Julia and Dominic Kugell; Beau Briggs; Tanner and Lily Wotton; and Booker and Dash Briggs; also “Aunt Julie” to several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband Dennis in 1987, son Jack in 2008, all her sisters and brothers-in-law: Hazel (Hatch) and Lacy Dudley, John and Evelyn Hatch, Della (Hatch) and Chester Currie, Perlie and Leona Hatch and Clyde and Nina Hatch, and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family would like to thank the staff at Cummings Healthcare for the love, respect, dignity and compassionate care she received while a resident.
Family and friends are invited to graveside services which will be held September 15, 2014 at 11 a.m. at Gould’s Ridge Cemetery in Passadumkeag followed by a celebration of her amazing life at Trapier’s Steak & Seafood Restaurant, 76 Bridge St., West Enfield, ME at 12 Noon. Should friends desire, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions could be made to the Milan and Emily Hatch Scholarship Fund, Penobscot Valley High School, 23 Cross St., Howland, ME 04448.For an online register book please visit www.clayfuneralhome.com
“Today and tomorrow,
Our whole life through,
We will always love and cherish you.”